Suit Claims Celebrity Haunt Used Facebook, MySpace to Weed Out Minorities

[mike r]

Source: ABC News

The owner of a bowling alley and nightclub popular with Manhattan's trendy crowd allegedly used networking sites Facebook and MySpace to screen out minorities and others he felt weren't desirable for his club, according to a lawsuit filed by former employees. Five ex-employees of Bowlmor Lanes in Manhattan's Union Square sued owner Tom Shannon claiming they were dismissed because of discrimination that ranged from their race, their gender, or the fact that one was pregnant as well as a minority.

In depositions included in their suit, the one-time Bowlmor workers detailed how Shannon allegedly also discriminated against certain people who would be allowed into the Carnival Night Club above the bowling lanes, where celebrities ranging from swimmer Michael Phelps to Paris Hilton are known to be photographed. According to the lawsuit filed in July, Shannon was "very upset at the 'diversity' in his club and wanted to make more changes to ensure that the 'diversity' in the club was halted."

In the lawsuit obtained by ABC News, Alice Rosenaur, Christopher Falletta, Denish Sheomber, Shavone Boston and Troy Sacco state that Shannon "instructed to 'obtain patrons' information and then search them in social networking sites to see how they looked, dressed, or where they lived, all in an effort to deny those from certain racial groups.'" ... Falletta stated that he immediately voiced his opposition once the group discussed the possibility of forming a team of specialized consultants for their future events to "find patrons on social networking internet site such as Facebook and MySpace and weed out patrons who were deemed racially problematic such as African Americans, Asians and Latinos."...

The deposition by Shavone Boston, who is black, states that Falletta was told by Shannon after she was hired that Boston "might not fit in too well" and that he "did not want African Americans in his business," according to the lawsuit...


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Technology/bowlmor-lanes-tom-shannon-allegedly-facebook-myspace-weed/story?id=11410667

[Posteritatis]

1. A trendy celebrity club staffed by cliquish bigots? I'm getting palpitations. (nt)

[dem mba]

2. I actually find this hard to believe

Bowlmor Lanes is in a very hip, diverse neighborhood. This isn't the UES or UWS here, it's basically in the NYU/Greenwich Village area. How could the owner possibly keep his clientèle minority-free?

I can understand a dress code being enforced because several bars and clubs already have those. But it would be almost impossible to keep minorities out of your club in a city with such a diverse nightclubbing crowd.

[Kweli4Real]

3. I think ...

Rather than keep all minorities out, the owner wanted to ensure an "acceptably" low number of minorities. Specifically, an acceptably low number of African-American and Latino males ; having worked in the bar/nightclub industry, African-American, Latino and Asian females are seen as a plus.

And it really doesn't matter about the demographics of the surrounding community.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Wait and see

I would wait to see all of the facts before passing judgment in this case. Business owners definitely have the freedom to enforce any dress code they wish. As a former door man, I've enforced specific dress codes put in place to keep gang members and hoodlums out of my establishment, these said hoodlums came in a colors at my club. If he specifically said he didn't want blacks in his club, then he has to pay the piper, but it seems like maybe some people are making that assumption based upon the dress code he chose.

I'll tell you this, I can have a dress code at a club that completely eliminates all hoodlums and still have a club filled with a majority of minorities, the 2 aren't mutually exclusive as is apparently being implied by these accusers.